The highly controversial 67 percent increase of passenger fess at Norwich Airport has given way to the axing of two winter routes offered by Thomson. This has been reported by the Evening News. Thomson has announced that it will not be able to offer the winter flights to Gran Canaria and Tenerife any longer as it is not commercially viable following the decision of the airport to increase the Airport Development Fee (ADF) from £3 to £5 per passenger with effect from September.

This winter, the passengers who have booked on the weekly flights to the Canaries will see that their services are cancelled and rerouted through different airports that include Luton and Stansted. This move by the airline follows that of the decision taken by Flybe to scrap its direct flights to Glasgow and Paris besides reducing the number of flights to Guernsey from Norwich in the month of April.

Addressing the newspaper, a spokeswoman of the airline observed, "We appreciate that route changes can be inconvenient and apologise to any customers who may have been affected by the decision to operate summer flights only out of Norwich airport. There has recently been a review into the profitability of these winter routes, partially due to the increase in the Airport Development Fee this year, and the conclusion has been made that winter routes from Norwich Airport are no longer commercially viable. However, the summer flights to the Canaries and other Spanish destinations, as well as Corfu, Malta and Cyprus, would be unaffected."